How to write a Chief of Staff weekly update

Your 1:1 is 20 minutes. You walk in with eleven things, your principal walks in with six fires, and you leave with three of your eleven answered. Strategy and your development wait another week, and next week it happens again.

The fix is to move the routine work into one short note, sent before the 1:1, with one reader. It differs from a company-wide broadcast (see our post on strategic communication), an investor update or a briefing for one meeting: its job is to get things decided before you meet.

What goes in a Chief of Staff weekly update?

Four parts, in this order: decisions you need, what moved, what's coming, and one topic for the 1:1. Keep it short enough to read on a phone, roughly 250 to 400 words.

Copy the template, then read the notes on each part below it. The section names match the short weekly note in our Chief of Staff skills guide.

Subject: Week of [date]: [N] decisions, [N] risks

## Decisions I need from you (reply inline by [day])
1. [Decision]. My recommendation: [option], because [one line]. Need by [day].
2. [Decision]. My recommendation: [option]. Need by [day].
3. [Decision]. FYI only, unless you disagree by [day].

## What moved this week (no action needed)
- [Outcome, with a number. e.g. "Q1 plan approved by all five leaders."]
- [Outcome]
- [Outcome]

## What's coming (next 2 to 4 weeks)
- [Risk or event]: why it matters, what I'm doing about it.
- [Risk or event]: why it matters, what I'm doing about it.

## For our 1:1
- [One strategic topic to think through together]
- [Monthly: one development or career topic]

## Numbers (optional, same 3 to 5 every week)
- [Metric]: [this week] ([change vs last week])

## Your week ahead (optional)
- Meetings that need your prep: [meeting, what you need to decide or say]
- What you owe others: [item, to whom, by when]

## Scope check (optional)
- New requests this week: [request, from whom, fits our mandate? yes / no / proposing an owner]

1. Decisions I need from you. Three at most, each with your recommendation, the reason in one line and the day you need an answer. Ask for inline replies. This is where triage leaves the meeting and where your judgment shows. Itamar Melamed told our podcast about anticipating what a principal needs that one measure he holds himself to is how many decisions he took off his CEO's plate.
2. What moved this week. Outcomes with numbers: "Q1 plan approved by all five leaders" beats "ran four planning sessions". Tie items to your mandate and your quarter's OKRs (see our OKR vs KPI guide), and keep any weekly numbers in the same order so changes jump out.
3. What's coming. Risks, deadlines and possible surprises in the next two to four weeks, each with what you're already doing about it. In my view, being ahead of events is most of what principals mean when they ask for a more strategic Chief of Staff.
4. For our 1:1. One strategic topic, plus one about your development once a month. Writing it down makes it much harder to bump.

The optional scope check lists new requests and whether they fit the role, which keeps scope creep visible without making it a complaint. "Your week ahead" covers the meetings your principal must prepare for and what they owe others.

Writing a decision line your principal can answer in one word

An open question asks your principal to do the thinking. A recommendation with a deadline asks them to check your thinking, which takes seconds, so they answer it between calls. Here's an illustration of three weak decision lines, rewritten.

1. Weak: "When should we do the all-hands?" Strong: "All-hands: I recommend moving it to the 14th, the day after the pricing announcement, so we answer the questions once. Need by Wednesday to send the invite."
2. Weak: "Sales wants two more SDRs. Thoughts?" Strong: "SDR hires: I recommend approving one now and one in May, because pipeline coverage is 2.8x against a 3x target and the May number tells us whether we need the second. Need by Friday for the req to open."
3. Weak: "FYI, the vendor contract renews soon." Strong: "Vendor renewal: I'll renew for one year at the same price unless you object by Thursday. I checked two alternatives; neither saves more than 5%."

Each strong line has the decision, your recommendation, the one fact that drives it, and the day it's needed with the reason. The third is a default, which turns a decision into a notification. Use it for anything you'd bet your principal will approve.

Put your recommendation and the day you need an answer next to every decision you ask for.

Judgment calls on the decisions section

If your mandate puts it in your Decide column, don't ask. Make the call and report it under "What moved"; asking for decisions you're allowed to make teaches your principal that you need permission.

When you have no recommendation, say what would help you form one: "I don't have a view yet; I need the CFO's Q2 forecast, which lands Tuesday." An invented recommendation you can't defend costs more than an open question. And track the recommendations your principal overrules. If they overrule you on hiring but never on process, you've found where your judgment and theirs differ, and that's the next 1:1 topic.

This week, fill the template for this week, even if you don't send it. The empty sections tell you where you're light.

What does a good weekly update look like?

A good update is specific, short and opinionated. Below is a fictional example for a Chief of Staff to the CEO of a 120-person startup in the middle of planning.

Subject: Week of March 9: 2 decisions, 2 risks

## Decisions I need from you (reply inline by Wednesday)
1. Pricing change go-live. My recommendation: move from April 1 to April 15, because support needs the new macros and two enterprise renewals land on the 3rd. Need by Wed.
2. Offsite format. My recommendation: one day, leadership team only, with Q2 planning as the single goal. Need by Wed.

## What moved this week (no action needed)
- Q2 plan drafts are in from all five leaders. Two have owners missing on one priority each; I'm closing that with them Monday.
- The board pack is 80% done; final numbers land Thursday.
- Hiring: the VP Sales shortlist is down to three; your interviews are booked for the 18th and 19th.

## What's coming (next 2 to 4 weeks)
- Engineering headcount: the plan assumes four hires by June; only one is in final rounds. I've asked the CTO for a fallback plan by the 20th.
- Customer renewal: our second-largest customer's champion is leaving. CS has a meeting with her successor on the 16th; I'll send you a two-line brief before it.

## For our 1:1
- Should Q2 have three company priorities or two? I lean two.

Every decision has a recommendation and a deadline, every "what moved" line is an outcome, and every risk has an owner and a next step. Nothing in it needs the meeting.

For a Chief of Staff to a functional executive in a large company, the shape stays the same. Decisions involve trade-offs with other functions, "what moved" ties to the department's business review, and "what's coming" includes company processes the principal has to feed. Here's a shorter fictional version for a Chief of Staff to the CTO of a 2,000-person company.

Subject: Week of March 9: 2 decisions, 1 risk

## Decisions I need from you (reply inline by Tuesday)
1. Platform team headcount. My recommendation: move one open role from Platform to Security for H1, because the audit findings land in April. Need by Tue.
2. Architecture review. My recommendation: move it to monthly; the last four had no decisions. Need by Tue.

## Numbers (same every week)
- Uptime 99.94% (flat) · Deploys 212 (+8%) · P1 incidents 1 (-2)

## What moved this week (no action needed)
- The H1 engineering plan is in the company planning tool, three days early.
- Finance agreed the cloud cost target; teams have their budgets.

## What's coming (next 2 to 4 weeks)
- Performance cycle opens on the 23rd. Two managers haven't finished calibration training; I've booked them for Thursday.

## For our 1:1
- The CPO wants two engineers for the pricing project. Do we lend them, and on what terms?

If you work part-time, our fractional Chief of Staff guide has a version that adds hours and a scope check.

What should you leave out of a weekly update?

Leave out activity logs, problems without a recommendation, and anything your principal should hear live first. The update is for decisions and foresight.

The live-first rule matters most. If something would surprise or upset your principal, tell them in person or on a call, then confirm in writing. Bad news by email reads as self-protection. People issues stay out because weekly notes get forwarded, searched and kept, so write each line as if your principal might forward it to the person it's about.

Live first, then in writing: a worked example

Here's an illustration. On Tuesday afternoon, you learn that the company's largest customer has told the account team it won't renew. Your update goes out Wednesday evening.

1. Tuesday, within the hour: a two-line message asking for ten minutes today. "Need ten minutes before end of day on [customer]. Not a fire for tonight, but you'll want to hear it from me."
2. The call: what happened, what you know and don't, and what's already in motion. "They told the account lead this morning. The stated reason is price; I don't believe that's the whole story. CS is meeting their COO Thursday, and I've asked for the usage data by tomorrow."
3. Wednesday's update, under "What's coming": the same facts in writing, plus the decision you need. "Do you want to call their CEO before Thursday's meeting? I recommend yes, because their CEO signed the original deal."

The call carries the news and your principal's first reaction; the written line carries the facts, the next step and the decision. A slipped internal deadline doesn't need a call, while a lost customer, a leadership resignation or a board concern does. When unsure, ask whether your principal would be embarrassed to hear it first from someone else.

When should you send a weekly update to your CEO?

Send it on the same day every week, the day before your 1:1, in the place your principal already reads. I'd rather you send a short update every week than a polished one every other week.

Richard Hoffman, then Chief of Staff at an early-stage fintech, told our podcast that the role had no clear metrics, so he emails his CEO at the end of every week, "religiously", with pain points, what's on his mind and what he'll get done next.

• Use the channel your principal already lives in: a direct message or pinned thread in Slack or Teams for most leaders, a shared doc if they review in writing, and email only if that is still where they read. If your principal never reads written updates, read it aloud in the first five minutes of the 1:1, or send a two-minute voice note with the text underneath.
• Keep the first line predictable. "Week of [date]: 3 decisions, 2 risks" tells your principal how much attention it needs.
• If your principal is skeptical, propose a four-week trial, then ask whether the 1:1s got better.
• When every reply is "let's discuss", take those to the 1:1, then rewrite each as a default next week: "Unless you object by Wednesday, I'll go with option B."
• An unanswered decision is the first item in the 1:1. When your principal replies inline, close the loop in writing within a day.
• With two principals, send one update to each, with a shared "what's coming" section.

This week, pick your send day and put a 30-minute recurring block in your calendar to write it.

How should your 1:1 change once you send a weekly update?

The 1:1 stops being a status meeting. Spend the first few minutes on any decision that wasn't answered in writing, then use the rest for the risks ahead, one strategic topic and, once a month, your development.

That leaves room for the conversations a Chief of Staff is hired for: the trade-offs behind a hard call, the risk nobody has named, the disagreement you'd never raise in a full leadership meeting. Some pairs get more time: Karly Gelardi, Chief of Staff to Zapier's Chief People Officer when we spoke, had a weekly one-on-one of at least an hour. Most won't, so the written update has to carry the routine work.

# 1:1, [date] (30 minutes)

## 1. Open decisions from the update (5 min)
- Anything not answered in writing. Decide or set a date.

## 2. What's coming: one risk, in depth (10 min)
- The risk most likely to cost us in the next month, and what we do now.

## 3. Strategic topic (10 min)
- [Topic from the update]. What I think, what I'm unsure about, what I need from you.

## 4. Development (5 min, monthly; otherwise more time for item 3)
- One skill or scope change I'm working toward, and how you can help.

## Follow-ups
- [Owner]: [action], by [date]

# 1:1, March 10 (30 minutes)

## 1. Open decisions from the update (5 min)
- Offsite format: not answered yet. Decide today so the invites go out Wednesday.

## 2. What's coming: one risk, in depth (10 min)
- Engineering headcount: one of four planned hires is in final rounds. Do we cut a Q2 priority now, or wait for the CTO's fallback plan on the 20th?

## 3. Strategic topic (10 min)
- Two company priorities for Q2 or three. I lean two. I'm unsure whether dropping the partner program puts the two enterprise renewals at risk.

## 4. Development (5 min, monthly)
- I'd like to run Q3 planning end to end. What would you need to see from me this quarter?

## Follow-ups
- Me: offsite invites, Wednesday
- CEO: fallback options with the CTO, by the 20th

There's no round of updates. If you find yourself reading the update aloud, it's too long or your principal hasn't read it, and both are worth a direct conversation.

The first month of the switch

The change rarely sticks on the first try, because your principal's habit is to use the 1:1 for status. Here's how the first four weeks usually go, as an illustration.

1. Week 1. You send the update. Your principal skims it, answers one decision inline, and opens the 1:1 with "So, where are we on everything?" Answer briefly, then point to the update and move to the risk.
2. Week 2. Two of three decisions come back answered. The 1:1 starts with the third. You get ten minutes on a strategic topic for the first time.
3. Week 3. Your principal forgets to read it before a busy day. Open the 1:1 by giving them two minutes to read it, in silence. It feels awkward once, and it teaches the habit.
4. Week 4. Ask the direct question: "Are the 1:1s more useful than a month ago?" Change the format based on the answer, and keep the habit.

When it doesn't take

Some principals never read written updates. Keep writing it anyway and use the first five minutes of the 1:1 for the decisions section only; the record still builds. Others read it and still want a status round, often because they process by talking. Give them five minutes and put the strategic topic first.

If you work remotely, the update matters more, because there's no hallway to catch your principal. By month two, other leaders may ask how to get items into your update; route their decisions through you only when they cross teams. If you're an executive who just hired a Chief of Staff, ask for this format from week one, as our guide on how to hire a Chief of Staff recommends.

How does a weekly update help your career?

It makes your judgment visible before decisions are made, and it builds a written record of what you've owned. Both are what principals look for when they decide whether you're an executor or a strategic partner.

Years into the role, many Chiefs of Staff are trusted to make everything work and still described as operational. Part of the reason is timing: if your principal mostly sees you after decisions, carrying them out, that's your reputation. The "decisions" and "what's coming" sections put you in the conversation before the call is made, with a view.

The record matters because the role rarely comes with clean metrics. Pull a quarterly recap from your updates, as Richard Hoffman does, and put a return next to each item where you can: hours your principal got back, a decision closed a week earlier, a renewal protected. That page is your evidence when you ask for the next level on our Leveling Framework, with the pay in our salary guide. [SCOTT: one line. Did you send a written update to your CEO at Spring, and what did it change?]

The record pays off most when you stay. In the Chief of Staff Network's 2026 Pathways Report, 61% of Chiefs of Staff step up when they stay at the same company, against 48% when they leave, and about 8% of completed stints end with a bigger Chief of Staff title in place. My read: promotions in place go to people who can show a record.

Once a quarter, pull the outcomes, the risks you caught and the decisions you shaped from your updates into a one-page recap.

This week, start a folder for your updates, and set a reminder to write a quarterly recap from them.

How can AI help you write a weekly update?

AI is good at the first draft: turning your notes, meeting summaries and project tracker into the four sections. It's bad at deciding what matters, so the recommendations and the risk calls stay yours. If your notes and calendar aren't connected to an assistant yet, our AI setup guide covers it.

Paste your raw notes and the template, ask for a draft that follows the rules, then edit hard, because a draft that sounds like everyone else's won't carry your judgment. Ana Flávia Silva, Chief of Staff at Section, described on our podcast how she keeps her principal's working-style notes in a shared AI workspace and asks how they'd want an idea positioned. Give the tool your principal's user manual and ask what they'd want first.

I'm a Chief of Staff. Draft my weekly update to my principal from the notes below.

Format, in this order:
1. "Decisions I need from you": at most 3. For each: the decision, my recommendation, a one-line reason and the day I need an answer. If my notes don't contain a recommendation, write [YOUR RECOMMENDATION?] instead of inventing one.
2. "What moved this week (no action needed)": outcomes only (no activity lists), with numbers where my notes have them. Max 5 bullets.
3. "Numbers": the same metrics as last week, in the same order, with the change. Skip if none are in my notes.
4. "What's coming (next 2 to 4 weeks)": risks and deadlines, each with what I'm doing about it.
5. "Your week ahead": meetings my principal needs to prepare for, and anything they owe other people.
6. "For our 1:1": one strategic topic.
7. "Scope check": new requests from the notes, and whether they fit my mandate (below).

Rules: under 400 words. Plain language. No people or performance issues; list any you find under "Raise live first". First line format: "Week of [date]: [N] decisions, [N] risks".

My mandate's three outcomes:
- 
My notes from this week:
- 

Use only tools your company has approved, especially for transcripts and anything about people or customers, and check every decision line against your own view. Our guide to AI for Chiefs of Staff covers approved tools and use cases.

If you're new to the role, start sending it in your second week; our guide to your first 90 days shows where it fits, and the Chief of Staff handbook covers the whole role.